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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

8 Scary Looking Animals that are Actually Harmless

Animals come in all forms of shapes and sizes, and some of them come with scary, nightmarish looks. However, some of these eerie looking animals don’t deserve their fearsome reputation. Some of them might just even make good companions.

The reason why people are afraid of these snakes, besides the fact that snakes are the stuff of nightmares for most, is that they have a very close resemblance in color to the coral snake, which is highly venomous. Milk snakes are harmless and are even taken in as pets by exotic pet keepers.

Aye-aye

Although they look like gremlins, with their long, skinny witch-like fingers, patchy looking skin and big yellow eyes, these Madagascar natives are actually pretty harmless and would prefer to munch on grubs and insects from trees. Locals also believe that they bring bad luck and death if they would ever point their finger at you, but that’s just purely superstition.

Gharial

What looks like a common crocodile but with a snout that’s long and narrow, Gharial’s actually can’t bite large animals because of their fragile jaws. A native of the Indian subcontinent, they live off eating small fish, insects and frogs. As long as you don’t place your hands inside their mouth, these reptiles would never harm you.

Basking Sharks

Seeing the giant mouth of this animal open wide is enough to scare the life out of any diver. But unlike their carnivorous cousins, these sharks are harmless filter feeders, meaning they live off eating tiny zooplankton and would never take a bite out of anything bigger than a grain of rice. These animals are also known to be very tolerant with nearby boats and vessels, as well as divers.

Vultures

These giant birds are often given a negative image because of how frightening they look. Their large wing span and inappropriate habit of appearing when there’s something that’s inches away from death or is already dead makes them even grimmer, but they’d never come close if you’re still alive. Vultures soar above gracefully and are truly majestic to look at.

Goliath Birdeater

A lot of people are afraid of spiders. But imagine one that’s about the same size as a small plate. The Goliath Birdeater is one of the biggest spider species in the world, said to be able to take down a bird. However, normal diets for these spiders are smaller insects, and they tend to be passive and entirely harmless to humans.

Vampire Bats

They fed on blood, look ghoulish, only appear at night, and live in hollow trees and dark caves. But beside this, vampire bats are harmless. They rarely even bite humans since they only feed on goat and cattle blood. Interesting enough, they would even adopt baby bats when something happens to their mothers.

Manta Ray

The biggest ray species on the planet, these giant beasts can reach a width of 25 feet. They’re huge, smart, and are commonly seen swimming in the clear warm tropical waters of the world. Since they’re filter feeders, don’t expect one to bite you if you’d ever get the chance to dive with them.